Balancing Work & Life

Julie Wayne’s groundbreaking research into the interplay between work life and personal life helped define the idea of work-family enrichment, where multiple roles can enhance both realms.

The throughline of her work is trying to look at things from a different perspective and give voice to groups

who might not otherwise have that voice,” says Wayne, Professor and David C. Darnell Presidential Chair in Principled Leadership.

“I tend to focus on the underdog,” she continues. “I have, for example, studied workplace biases against

women. I’ve studied biases against men who took time off to care for family. I’ve studied underrepresented gender and racial groups and their experiences at work. I’ve studied workplace biases against people with disabilities.”

Her current research focuses on work and neurodiversity, including how a child’s neurodiversity impacts a parent’s ability to work, and how the workplace experiences of neurodiverse individuals differ from those neurotypical individuals. She also has recently published research on the “invisible family load” that people, particularly women, carry at home and how it affects them at work, positively and negatively.

Wayne, who has an undergraduate degree in psychology, has long had an interest in improving people’s day-to-day lives.

“Most people spend more time at work than they spend anywhere else, and what happens at work affects

people outside of work — their health, their families, their quality of life and well-being,” she says. “If I can make work better, I can make their lives better.” That thinking led her to earn a Ph. D. in industrial and

organizational psychology, embarking on what is now a 26-year career at Wake Forest University.

Her research into work-life balance began in the early 2000s, a time when the relationship between work and family was presented as a conflict. “When I started the work, the paradigm was that if you invest in your personal life, then you’re stealing from and harming work,” she says.

Some considered research into the entire topic to be anti-business, she recalls.

But Wayne suspected each realm could benefit the other. An initial project studied students and residents at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

“It doesn’t take very long to figure out that doctors’ work can be all-consuming, 80 to 100 hours a week,” Wayne says. “And that can negatively impact personal lives — missing a holiday, not being there for their spouses.”

Yet the medical students and residents found great value in their work, a sense of identity, purpose and fulfillment. They also noted ways that their work as, say, a pediatrician made them a better parent. “We found that if you have multiple roles, it’s not inherently bad. So, we started talking about this concept called work-family enrichment. We defined it; we developed a scale to measure it. That’s exciting to me — to look at what’s missing from the conversation about a topic.”

Her findings led to further research, including the various ways that individuals define “balance” in their own lives. “We found that people who reported more balance performed better at work. They were more engaged at work,” Wayne says. 

Although work-life balance has become common parlance, Wayne is not fond of the phrase’s evocation of a scale. “I don’t think of ‘balance’ as a noun. I think of it as a verb,” she says. “It’s a constant process of shifting and adjusting to integrate how your work roles and personal roles fit together. And that comes from being able to meet realistic expectations and experiencing satisfaction in your most valued roles.” Recognized as an international expert on the intersection of people’s work and nonwork lives, Wayne’s research has made its way beyond the realm of academia, appearing in popular media and cited in congressional testimony. Yet, as a teacher-scholar, it’s just as important to Wayne that she impart to her students “evidence-based business practices that are not only good for people but good for business.”

And Wayne still has that goal of making a difference in people’s day-to-day lives. “There’s nothing more rewarding and gratifying than that.”

Dr. Julie Wayne

David C. Darnell Presidential Chair in Principled Leadership; Professor

(336) 758-5733 |

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